Eretz Israel is our unforgettable historic homeland...The Jews who will it shall achieve their State...And whatever we attempt there for our own benefit will redound mightily and beneficially to the good of all mankind.(Theodor Herzl, DerJudenstaat, 1896)

We offer peace and amity to all the neighbouring states and their peoples, and invite them to cooperate with the independent Jewish nation for the common good of all. The State of Israel is ready to contribute its full share to the peaceful progress and development of the Middle East.(From Proclamation of the State of Israel, 5 Iyar 5708; 14 May 1948)With a liberal democratic political system operating under the rule of law, a flourishing market economy producing technological innovation to the benefit of the wider world, and a population as educated and cultured as anywhere in Europe or North America, Israel is a normal Western country with a right to be treated as such in the community of nations.... For the global jihad, Israel may be the first objective. But it will not be the last.(Friends of Israel Initiative)

Watch her in this English-subtitled video posted by Canadian blogger Vlad Tepes. It includes Interior Minister Christophe Castaner's dismissive and seemingly arrogant reply to the lady's well-stated fears.

As that brave and perspicacious French intellectual, Guy Millière, a firm friend of Israel, has warned

'.... Radical Islam may be on the defensive, but its offence has not stopped. The main Islamist organizations seem to be waiting for the moment to attack again....

Islamist jihadist groups are still active in Libya, where they control human trafficking activities and infiltrate their operations among immigrants trying to cross the Mediterranean to Europe. The police continue to seize components used to make explosive devices and have thwarted attempted attacks on European soil, but videos with instructions are still circulating.

It is important to emphasize that radical Islamists use other means of power than terrorism to gain ground. The Muslim Brotherhood, the main Sunni Islamist organization, has never rejected violence but says it prefers the da'wa (proselytism, infiltration, and influence) to achieve power in the Muslim world and beyond. Sayid Qutb, their leader in the 1950s, said that the goal of the Muslim Brotherhood was to "establish the Islamic regime" wherever possible, by "any means".... The Muslim Brothers ... continue to have the support of Turkey and Qatar, and Hamas was founded as the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The latest reports indicate that the members of the Muslim Brotherhood can now turn to an affiliate network in more than 70 countries. They maintain their hope of winning throughout the Muslim world, but their main objective seems to be the transformation of the West.

The leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood seem to think that if the West falls, the rest of the world will fall too. In the US, the Muslim Brothers have unofficial branches, hiding, but very active; These include the Council for American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA)....

It is still allowed to criticize Islam in Western Europe, but all who dares, with some exceptions, such as Éric Zemmour in France or Thilo Sarrazin in Germany, are almost totally ignored by the mainstream media. ... Hamed Abdel-Samad, a former member of the Muslim Brotherhood who now lives in Germany, is the author of Islamic Fascism. Abdel-Samad says what Western European leaders refuse to see: "Islam is a religion of war." In a recent interview, he added that when a non-Muslim country is strong, "Islam may end up agreeing to live together", b Abdel-Samad says what Western European leaders refuse to see: "Islam is a religion of war." In a recent interview, he added that when a non-Muslim country is strong, "Islam may end up agreeing to live together", but when a non-Muslim country is passive "war appears" on the horizon. This war, he continued, "can be violent. It can be non-violent. Western European countries show all the symptoms of being passive....'

Tuesday, 29 January 2019

On Stephen Sizer's Facebook page, beneath a post of his linking to thisGuardian report, eyebrow-raising posts by a Michigan-based "friend" of his, Linda Najar:

And on Najar's own Facebook page, such current uglies as these:

Is the ex-vicar of Virginia Water, now CEO of the so-called Peacemakers Trust, really happy to have Facebook friends such as she? If he is not, he should demonstrate his disapproval by de-friending such people forthwith.

Former Archbishop of Canterbury Dr George Carey, now a life peer, is seen below asserting, in an interview on i24NEWS with video anti-antisemitism campaigner and Middle East analyst Jonathan Sacerdoti, a few home truths on Holocaust Memorial Day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5E8Xx58zq68

Inter alia, to quote the uploader:

'.... Lord Carey of Clifton told i24NEWS on
Sunday that 'Christians are to blame as well' for high-levels of
anti-Semitism in the UK, which he suggested was linked to the one-sided
narratives many received on pilgrimages to Israel and the West Bank.
'What I think we need to do is to better educate Christians who go on
these pilgrimages to see this as not the total story,' Lord Carey said,
urging the thousands attending such religious trips to prominent and
widely-contested holy sites in the region to seek the entire picture
with regards to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Many of the religious sites such as Jesus’ birthplace in Bethlehem and
the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron are located in the West Bank, often
flashpoint and conflict-centric areas.
'What they don’t realize is what is happening to the Jewish communities
in their own land who are sidelined and in a way persecuted by
Palestinians. You’ve got to get a much more balanced view of what’s
going on,' he continued.
'I think of Israel as a wonderful, sophisticated, democratic society
surrounded by undemocratic nations. I mean we must support one another,'
he said, emphasizing shared the Judeo-Christian heritage. 'Christians
owe so much to the Jewish scriptures and Jewish history, so we stand as
one,' the former top church leader added.
Lord Carey of Clifton has often spoken out publicly against
anti-Semitism in the church and across the UK. 'It’s not going to cost
my life, it’s not going to cost my future, and this is what Jews fear,
you know, the persecution, indirect persecution,' he asserted, referring
to the detrimental impact anti-Semitism can often have on daily life.
'Think of Jewish children walking to school with armed guards, guards
outside synagogues — in an advanced civilization such as ours, this is
quite deplorable,' he told i24NEWS'

'Christian Zionism does not support Israel for Israel’s sake, but
because ‘believers’ have been led to understand the Bible teaches
Israeli sovereignty from the Nile to the Euphrates will herald the end
of the world and trigger the ‘rapture’, when Jesus will come again and
establish his Kingdom – from Jerusalem. So important is the acquisition
of land to this cult like ideology that Zionists resist ‘land for peace’
or the unfolding of a peace process that would ultimately see the
establishment of a Palestinian state.

It should not
simply be left to secularists to describe this for what it is – absurd,
dangerous, nonsense .... Tiptoeing around is to condone cruel apartheid for
Palestinians who, through accident of birth and heredity, inconveniently
stand in the way of these delusional ambitions, cloaked as they may be
in saccharine piety. Tiptoeing around is not simply to support Israel in
its overtly apartheid system of colonisation, it is also to turn a
blind eye to the reality that Saudi Arabia has been the cradle from
which terrorism has sprung, while the demonization of Iran leaves it
dangerously outside the checks and balances that come with being part of
an international community of trade and diplomacy.

Just
as Christian Zionism’s concern for Israel resides in a very different
priority; similarly, US Middle Eastern politics is driven not by events
in the Middle East, but by US domestic politics and the base from which
Donald Trump relies on for support – the Evangelical Christian right. We
are confronted with utter hypocrisy and disdain for truth on every
corner. It is very unlikely that Donald Trump believes the nonsense of
the Christian Zionist position, but being their champion keeps him in
the White House. (By contrast the very honourable John McCain refused to
accept endorsement from this quarter). It is almost incomprehensible
that Christians of any description could condone Trump’s deceitfulness,
self-aggrandisement, and appalling behaviour, particularly to women, and
yet none of this seems to matter to the Christian right, as long as he
supports their agenda.

[Emphasis asdded; the irony of citing Trump's alleged misogyny, while turning a blind eye to the appalling reality of Islamic subjugation of women, not least in Iran, will surely not be lost on readers!]

.... So,
what of Australia? How many Christians are motivated by a Zionist
ideology is very hard to know. What motivates [Liberal federal politician] Eric Abetz to demonise
Palestinians and unconditionally laud the state of Israel? Only he could
answer. His public statements following the Labor Party motion to make
the recognition of Palestine a priority indicate either he has callous
disregard for Palestinian suffering at the hands of the occupation and
settlement program, or that he chooses to block this reality from his
mind. He continues to insist that Palestine refuses to accept the right
of Israel to exist even though since the Oslo accord more than 20 years
ago Palestinians have accepted a territorial divide based on 1967
borders. Further he refuses to acknowledge that the boot is on the other
foot, most ministers in the Netanyahu government have said they will
never allow a Palestinian state.

South African
apartheid enjoyed the imprimatur of conservative Christians based on
spurious interpretation and application of biblical text. To be doing
the same in the land of Jesus who revealed that in God there are no
boundaries, no divisions; common or shared humanity is more important
than tribal, ethnic or religious identity; is to deny the very
foundations of Christianity itself.'

What a ripper of an article, by contrast, and on the ABC site no less, by co-CEO of the Executive Australian Jewry Peter Wertheim, who having ably described Australia's support for Jewish statehood at the UN General Assembly in 1949, remarks:

'If [the Australian] Labor [Party, which at its conference last month voted to recognise a Palestinian state on assuming office] today were to apply the same criteria to recognition of a Palestinian state that it applied to recognition of Israel, "Palestine" would fail on all of them. In particular, due to the schism within the Palestinian national movement, there is no Palestinian entity that exercises "control of all forms of administration within specified areas" that comprise the territory claimed by the Palestinians ― namely, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

The internal divide between the secular nationalist movement among Palestinians, represented by the PLO and Palestinian Authority (PA) which controls parts of the West Bank, and the theocratic movement, represented by Hamas which controls the Gaza Strip, has resulted in internecine violence on many occasions. They are at odds over the most basic questions, not only concerning peace with Israel and other policy issues, but also on the essential nature of a future Palestinian State, and the basic rules by which it will be governed.

Hamas refuses to relinquish its arms to the PA and to place its operatives under the PA's command. The PA is too weak to force Hamas to do so. The Palestinians have never had their "Altalena" moment.

So for reasons which are entirely internal to Palestinian society, there is no reasonable prospect for the foreseeable future of any government being formed which would exercise effective control over both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and possess the capacity to give effect to any agreements signed by "Palestine" ― including any peace treaty that might be negotiated with Israel.

Recognising a Palestinian state in these circumstances would therefore not help to end the conflict with Israel, but would almost certainly inaugurate a new and bloodier phase of that conflict, at the likely cost of many more lives than the conflict has claimed thus far.'

For his part, Napier (current Facebook profile avowing "Working to boycott and isolate the genocidal State of Israel") has used Holocaust Memorial Day to push his anti-Israel message in posts and a live broadcast to followers, including one invoking Raphael Lemkin's definition of Genocide.

A follower runs with the theme of Israelis as deliberate perpetrators of genocide, and another, reflecting what has become commonplace in the anti-Israel movement, especially since the rise of Corbyn, is not shy about making antisemitic tropes:

To which the chief's observation is hardly an outright condemnation:

Meanwhile, Tomas Rowan, described as "with UNRWA as a United Nations Refugee Affairs Officer in Gaza during
the First Intifada" whose "novel of that period A Bar Mitzvah At Arafat’s
will be published this summer", is advocating adoption of an "anti-Palestinianism" declaration analogous to definitions of antisemitism.

And the London-based Henry Jackson Society has published a very revealing, very disturbing analysis of extremist speakers on campuses in the UK during the academic year 2017-18.

Inter alia:

'Extremist hate preachers, pro-jihad activists, and avowed anti-Semites have “near-unfettered” access to students. It catalogues 435 events promoted to students held over the last three academic years featuring elements of extremism – 16% of which took place at just one university. The nationwide league table identified events promoted by university groups that have included: extremist or extremist-linked speakers, those that fundraised for extremist organisations, or included extremist content.

In September 2015 at a speech in Birmingham, then Prime Minister David Cameron ordered universities to stop providing extremists with “the oxygen they need to flourish” by hosting extreme speakers. He cited 70 events featuring extremist-linked speakers that had occurred on campuses the previous academic year. In spite of his warning, the University Extreme Speakers League Table discloses that more than 100 such events have been targeted at students in each and every year since. In the 2017-18 academic year, the number of publicly promoted events increased by 87%, with 200 such events. The report warns that the true figure could be much higher, given it lists only publicly promoted events.

Over the last three academic years, SOAS is the university which has hosted the most events promoted to students which feature extremist groups or speakers. The university has repeatedly disputed that it is in breach of its Prevent duties and has seen 70 events promoted by student groups that feature extremist groups or speakers – 43 of which took place in the last year alone. In the 2017-18 academic year, over 20% of all events featuring elements of extremism took place under its auspices. SOAS, hosted over four times as many events as its closest rivals; King’s College London, Birmingham, and Queen Mary University.

Among the extremist speakers identified by the Henry Jackson Society are:

35 events featuring speakers from the pro-Jihad lobby group CAGE. CAGE speakers include: Moazzam Begg who has praised Al-Qaeda figures and encouraged Muslims to travel to Syria; Shaker Aamer considered an Osama Bin Laden affiliate by the US Government; and Asim Qureshi who has promoted violent jihad, called Jihadi John a “beautiful young man”, and refused to condemn female genital mutilation.

4 of the 6 extremist speakers David Cameron warned universities not to host in 2015 have continued to speak at student events collectively making appearances in 54 student events over the past three years. They are Hamza Tzortzis, Uthman Lateef, Haitham al-Haddad and Alomgir Ali.

Other radical Islamists among the almost 100 speakers identified include: Yahya al-Raaby who has called Shia Muslims “devils” and “rafida”; Yusuf Chambers who has advocated death for homosexuals;and Muhammed Taqi Usmani who has claimed that Islam allows slavery under certain conditions.

140 events featuring representatives of organisations linked to Haitham al-Haddad. Al-Haddad is one of Britain’s most notorious extremist hate preachers who has sanctioned forms of female genital mutilation, child marriage, death for apostates and adulterers, and said that men who beat their wives should not be questioned.

The rankings also include appearances by the far-right extremist Tommy Robinson and noted anti-Semites including Jackie Walker, the former Vice-Chair of Momentum.The report argues that universities’ protocols for upholding the Government’s prevent strategy are “not fit for purpose”.'

Warning of an “industrial-scale failure by universities to apply their Prevent duties”, the report’s author highlights the apparent disparities between universities’ obligations under the law and the reality on the ground. Universities have an obligation under the ‘Prevent duty’ enacted by the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act (2015) to protect students from extremist speakers. The rules were instituted by Theresa May during her tenure as Home Secretary. The Government’s guidance on the duty states:

“…when deciding whether or not to host a particular speaker, [universities] should consider carefully whether the views being expressed, or likely to be expressed, constitute extremist views that risk drawing people into terrorism or are shared by terrorist groups. In these circumstances the event should not be allowed to proceed except where [universities] are entirely convinced that such risk can be fully mitigated without cancellation of the event.” ....

(Emphasis added)

Read the entire article, with a list of the most affected campuses and accompanied by a video featuring the report's author Emma Fox, here.

Sunday, 27 January 2019

In The Times of 26 January, an interview with Channel 4's Countdown's numbers whizz Rachel Riley, who's Jewish, and who has been bombarded with "vile abuse" and even threats of violence since speaking out against antisemitism in Corbynista circles.

Inter alia,

'Until recently Rachel Riley had never felt particularly Jewish. “When I was a kid my mum would give us pepperoni pizza,” she said. “We’d light the menorah candles but we didn’t go to synagogue and I’ve never done Friday night.”

But now the Countdown presenter is at the forefront of the campaign against antisemitism, having suffered “hideous abuse” and physical threats from Labour activists for criticising Jeremy Corbyn’s failure to tackle it. She is even being given extra security on the programme.

Her sense of Jewish identity is stronger than ever. On Tuesday she was in parliament speaking alongside MPs at a Holocaust Educational Trust reception. “You don’t need any aspect of religion to feel a part of that group,” she said.'

Wednesday, 23 January 2019

Here's the latest article by Sydney lawyer and international affairs analyst David Singer.

He writes:

The bizarre
Handover ceremony of Egypt’s Chairmanship of the Group of 77 to the “State of Palestine”for
2019 will enable this non-existent and non-member State
of the United Nations to play a leading role in the 74 years old farce – “TheQuestion of Palestine and the United Nations” (PUN).

The Group
of 77 (“the Bloc”) contains 133 of the 193 member states of the United Nations –
ensuring the
automatic passage of all United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolutions
they propose.

UNGA ResolutionA/RES/73/5 – adopted on 16 October 2018 – put this illusory “State of Palestine” centre
stage for PUN’s 2019 New York season – recognising it as the Bloc’s public face
in all matters brought before UNGA and at
meetings of representatives of other major groups.

146 countries
voted for this Resolution whilst only three – Israel, the U.S. and Australia – voted
against, 15 countries abstained and the remaining 29 states did not vote.

US Deputy
UN Ambassador Jonathan Cohen called out the hypocrisy of the vote:

"We
cannot support efforts by the Palestinians to enhance their status outside of
directnegotiations.
The United States does not recognize that there is a Palestinian

state.... Only
U.N. member states should be entitled to speak and act on behalf of major
groups of states
at the United Nations."

"Australia's
decision to vote no on this resolution reflects our long-standing position that
Palestinian attempts to seek recognition as a state in international fora are
deeply unhelpful to efforts towards a two-state solution."

The
Handover Ceremony took place in the presence of UNGA President Ms.Maria
Fernanda Espinosa
Garcés, UN Secretary General Mr. António Gutteres,Mahmoud Abbas – the self-styled “President of the State of
Palestine” (formerly called “the Palestinian Authority” before Abbas unilaterally
changed its name in 2013) and Bloc members.

Mr.
Gutteres’ 12 minute speech contained this politically-charged statement:“Palestine
and its citizens have first-hand experience of some of the most challenging and
dramatic global issues at force”

Regrettably
the Secretary General failed to elaborate on where he believed “Palestine” is
located,

who he
considers are its citizens, its capital, the area it controls and its current
government.

The
Handover Ceremony included a one-hour concert featuring live performances of Astor
Piazolla’s “Oblivion”,
a Brahms sonata for violin and piano, five works by three Egyptian composers
extending over 26
minutes and just 4 minutes of “Palestinian folk songs” whose provenance was not

“... we are
confident that [the Bloc] will support the Palestinians when it [sic] time
comes for negotiations and the US will find out that it cannot ignore
Palestine.”

Malki’s
claim is risible.

America has
denied the existence of any State of Palestine for the last seven decades.
President Trump has
closed the PLO diplomatic offices in Washington and ceased America’s annual
payments of $360
million to UNRWA. The PLO refuses to entertain any Trump peace proposals designed
to end the
Arab-Jewish conflict.

President
Trump’s response could well see him consigning the “State of Palestine”to
diplomatic oblivion to
the accompanying strains of Piazolla’s Oblivion – with the United Nations left
lamenting at the wake
that it holdsfor
the phantom State.

(Author’s
note:The cartoon—commissioned exclusively for this article —is by Yaakov
Kirschen aka “Dry Bones”
– one of Israel’s foremost political and social commentators—whose cartoons
have graced the
columns of Israeli and international media publications for decades. His
cartoons can be viewed at Drybonesblog)

The rape and murder not far from her campus in the Melbourne suburb of Bundoora last week of Israeli Arab exchange student Aiia Maasarwe (a gifted 21-year-old from a Muslim family in Baqa al-Gharbiyye, from which city, incidentally, comes the first Muslim woman to serve in the Israeli diplomatic service) has, understandably, caused widespread anger and anguish here in Australia.

The press are reporting this weekend that Ms Maasarwe had been bludgeoned to death about the head following a sexual assault so savage that police have applied for a formal reporting embargo regarding the harrowing details. (One federal senator, who dubs himself "the human headline", had already, to wide condemnation from people concerned for the feelings of the
victim's family, had tweeted a harrowing detail that he alleges
he learned from a police source.) Whether the full story will emerge during the trial of the man accused of Ms Maasarwe's murder remains to be seen.

The Victorian premier tweets his sympathy

On Friday evening a silent vigil was held on the steps of Victoria's State Parliament in Melbourne, looking down towards tram stop at the intersection with Bourke Street where Ms Maasarwe boarded the tram the night she died, after socialising with friends. Her father, Mr Saaed Maasarwe, addressed the large crowd to thank them for their support and to pay tribute to his daughter, and afterwards members of the public carrying bunches of blooms (including red roses, her favourite flower) boarded the number 86 tram to Bundoora as she had done a couple of evenings earlier. Further rallies, not only in Melbournr but in Sydney and Canberra, have been held today.

There can be few people, of all creeds and none, and irrespective of political belief, who are not deeply upset by the terrible fate of Ms Maasarwe, or unmoved by the sorrow expressed by her tearful yet supremely dignified father on behalf of his daughter, himself, and his family..

So it is disappointing to find sections of the anti-Israel movement in Australia trying to twist this tragedy for their own ends, as we glimpse, for instance, here:

Here:

And here:

Meanwhile a number of Israelis and Australian Jews are hoping that Mr Netanyahu will meet Ms Maasarwe's grieving family sooner rather than later to show his support, just as the Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, met Mr Maasarwe to express his condolences.

I expect that, like me, many Australians who, directly following Channel Nine's news of the shocking murder of Aiia Maasarwe, tuned into Channel Nine's coverage of the Australian Open tennis tournament to try to focus on something less heart-rending, were absolutely astounded to see the misogynistic advertisements starring Charlie Sheen that have been featuring prominently during the tennis. Memories of the equally misogynistic ads starring Mike Tyson that marred coverage of the Open when I last watched it (it was then on Channel Seven) came flooding back.

For the car servicing company Ultra Tune, these misogynistic ads, proudly and defiantly defended by the company's executive chairman Sean Buckley, were ably slated in the Melbourne Herald Sun of 14 November 2018 by journalist Michelle Andrews, who wrote inter alia:

'Being a washed up celebrity of the 80s and 90s is also a crucial
element in being cast in one of the auto repair company’s videos, but
increasingly, there’s another line you should aim to have on your resume
that’ll give you a cut above the rest.

And that is convicted rapist or convicted domestic violence offender.

In
January of this year, the car servicing company’s Executive Chairman
Sean Buckley chose retired boxer Mike Tyson as the face of the sixth
instalment of the “Unexpected Situations” advertising campaign, which
follows the storyline of a group of women that, aesthetically speaking,
could best be described as playing the part of clueless bimbos, being
rescued from a roadside situation by the help of a man....

In 1992, a jury found Tyson guilty of raping an
then 18-year-old woman. Years earlier, his first wife, Robin Givens
accused Tyson of domestic violence and was successful in obtaining a
temporary restraining order against him during their divorce....

[T]he ad received an unprecedented amount of complaints, to
which Buckley replied, “I think I know what I’m doing. The ads work
brilliantly.”

By Jill Meagher's widower

Now ... they’ve passed the baton on to Charlie Sheen.

[T]his is the same Charlie Sheen who in 1997
pleaded no contest to slamming his former partner Brittany Ashland’s
head into a marble floor; pleaded guilty to third-degree assault after
pressing a knife to his third wife Brooke Mueller’s throat and was
forced into a rehabilitation program a decade later; was accused of
watching pornography involving boys who looked underage by his ex-wife
Denise Richards during their 2006 divorce proceedings. And according to
Hollywood madam Michelle Braun, who alleges to have supplied Sheen with
sex workers for a number of years, Sheen’s requested “type” of woman was
someone who possessed “two tits, a hole, and a heartbeat."

But
according to Buckley, who made a recent Facebook post about his choice
of Sheen, we’ve got it all wrong. He’s really just a “lovely down to
earth guy”.

... So surely we can all agree that it’s a little hard to change attitudes
about violence against women when one of our biggest auto company’s uses
our TV networks to push the glamorisation of an abuser to the masses. '

The latest ad is drawing well-deserved flak from Twitter users. And no wonder. In Australia, with its disturbingly high rates of domestic violence, no less than 69 women were killed by abusive male partners in the past year alone. Yet derogatory, demeaning ads of this nature (mockery of and hate speech against women, and as such on a par with racism) are tolerated even while politicians pay lip service to women's rights.

A report on the Channel Nine news website

The terrible murder of Aiia Maasarwe invites comparison with four other notorious killings of young women that have taken place in Melbourne since 2012. To quote journalist Karen Sweeney on Twitter:

'Aiia Maasarwe took public transport, talked on her phone, knew the area and was close to home, she was between a 24-hour service station, a shopping centre, a row of townhouses, a major road and intersection and she was still murdered. How far do we have to go to stay safe?

Jill Meagher had talked on the phone with her brother, was walking along busy Sydney Road in Brunswick and her husband was waiting, expecting her home just minutes after she was dragged off the street, raped and murdered on September 22, 2012.

Renea Lau was on her way to work when she was chased down, beaten and raped beside the Victoria Police Memorial at 5:30am on June 28, 2014. The attack lasted 80 minutes and she lived, with horrific injuries, for at least 35 of those minutes.

Masa Vukotic was murdered in a frenzied attack in broad daylight while walking on a track near her home after school on March 16, 2015. Her killer spent 11 hours searching for a victim before deciding she would die because he didn’t like the way she was talking to the birds.

Eurydice Dixon was stalked for five kilometres over an hour before being raped and murdered 900m from her home on June 13, 2018 after a night with friends. She’d just messaged her boyfriend to say she was nearly home safe.

They were women walking alone. We all do it. We know that 99.99 per cent of the time it’s safe, the calls we make are unnencessary, putting keys between our fingers is as silly as it feels, that we’re more likely to hit call by mistake on the 000 we dialled than on purpose.

You might walk behind us knowing you’re not going to kill us, but it’s not like murderers have signs warning us they’re the bad guys. It’s the 0.01 per cent of times we can’t predict that we’re afraid of.

All these women died in different situations, the only common theme that they were women and they were alone. Being safe is a right. We know we can’t be guaranteed it, but that doesn’t mean we can’t and shouldn’t fight for it.

Looking back I wonder what has changed since 2012. We’ve had marches and vigils and law changes but women are still being murdered in terrible and preventable circumstances. Something more has to change. I just wish I knew what and how.'

Terror Groups Eyeing Israel's Destruction from inside NGOs

Two stalwarts go sleuthing:

For their findings cliick on image

"The research suggests that antisemitism is the fuel that primes the PSC engine"

To read the research report click on image

'For as long as these antisemites wrap themselves up in the Palestinian flag, too many people are willing to turn a blind eye. Only against Jews is this type of racism openly tolerated. It is flourishing in schools, colleges, universities, unions and in city councils. In fact, so rampant is the disease now, in some settings you can be ostracised if you do not partake in the frenzy yourself. Bashing Jews has becomes a trendy position for the ignorant social justice warrior. "Palestinianism" is a viral "ponzi scheme" and as it spreads, it carries antisemitism in the undergrowth.' David Collier (2017)

'This new rise in antisemitism, which I had thought long dead, was not shaven-headed white imbeciles from the far right. It was Muslims, a large chunk of it.... Suddenly I grasped that the British far left didn’t want people to know about antisemitism because it pointed the finger at people they really, really liked. From that moment on, it all fell into place.... Time and again the same tropes emerged, the same sort of stuff that Streicher and Goebbels would have commended – and uttered.... And from that a whole bunch of other stuff emerged: the old blood libel business (a favourite of the repulsive Jenny Tonge).... Nice, avuncular, Jeremy Corbyn, with his peace badges, happily laying a wreath at the graveside of Palestinian terrorists who murdered innocent Jewish athletes, oh, and much much more.... It is the same antisemitism, exactly the same: the obsession with Israel to the exclusion of everything else, the conspiracy theory paranoias, the derangement.... Here’s the test – if you cannot see the flagrant racism in the BDS movement, and if you are obsessed with the perfidy of the Middle East’s only democracy to the exclusion of all else, you are an antisemite. That means a good proportion of the Labour Party, including the leader, and almost all of Momentum: no brown shirts, no marching bands, but the same old filth, dressed in the clothes of a polytechnic geography lecturer.'Rod Liddle (2018)

Pro-Israel Down Under

Shalom and Welcome to my blog!I'm the little Aussie blogger who took the screenshot and broke the story of Stephen Sizer's notorious 9/11 post, and I've since broken two other stories that subsequently went viral, one Australia-wide and one, thanks to the sterling work of two other bloggers, worldwide. I remain very surprised and very honoured to have been co-winner, Best Pro-Israel Blog, Hasby Awards, 2013Please "Like" me on Facebook; my Facebook page ishere

'In a region where women are stoned, gays are hanged, Christians are persecuted, Israel ... is different.... Of the 300 million Arabs in the Middle East and North Africa, only Israel's Arab citizens enjoy real democratic rights.... Israel is not what is wrong about the Middle East. Israel is what is right about the Middle East.' Bibi Netanyahu (20 Iyar 5771; 24 May 2011)Scroll to end for more quotations

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'Before the June 1967 Six Day War, there were no such things as "settlements". Palestinians were trying to destroy and displace Israel anyhow. The core problem is not, and never was, "settlements," but the right of Israel (or any non-Muslim nation) to exist inside any borders in that part of the world.If you take a stand that is based on a lie, then that stand cannot succeed. If you try to oppose antisemitism but pretend it is the same thing as "Islamophobia," then the structure on which you have made your stand will totter and all your aspirations will fail. If you try to make a stand based on the idea that settlement construction rather than the intransigence of the Palestinians to the existence of a Jewish state is what is holding up a peace deal, then facts will keep on intruding.' Douglas Murray (31 December 2016)https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9685/britain-little-lies

BDS is Antisemitic

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The Bigotry & Immorality of BDS

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'Islamophobia does NOT come from the same wellspring of hatred as antisemitism. Antisemitism is a true prejudice because the hatred and demonisation it promotes derive entirely from lies and a repudiation of rationality itself. Islamophobia is a false allegation of prejudice which is deployed to silence rational criticism based on actual facts about attitudes and practices within the Islamic world. [L]ethally compromised even-handedness is to misunderstand, and thus minimise, antisemitic attitudes and behaviour while shutting down legitimate and necessary discussion of the threat from the Islamic world – even to demonise as “Islamophobic” anyone who draws attention to the extent and consequences of Muslim antisemitism.' Melanie Phillips (14 December 2016)

"Selling a house to a Jew is a betrayal of Allah"

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Maps of Mendacity & Mischief

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These misleading maps were deliberately prepared to date from 1946 – intentionally papering over the momentous events that had occurred between 1917 and 1945. Attempts to unravel binding precepts of international law established between 1917 and 1945 – and failing to insist on their being upheld and enforced – has a lot to do with the sorry situation the world finds itself in today.David Singer (2016)

How They Twist the Truth!

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Jews have re-assumed the role of the canary in the mine and are the first to be targeted, but the world would face the same threat if Jews did not exist. Israel has been at the front lines confronting Islamic extremism but has received scant support... For Jews, the writing has been on the wall for a long time. The virulence of the antisemitic hatred closing in on Jews in Europe (and elsewhere) is horrifying... Europe is today facing a crisis as serious as the confrontation with Nazism. If Western leaders continue behaving like Chamberlain and fail to stand up to this global threat, it could usher in a new Dark Age in which the Judeo-Christian culture is subsumed by primitive barbarism. The writing is on the wall Isi Leibler (12 January 2015)

Expose The Lies!

There is a war of lies and deceit on the internet generating unbelievable hate by denigrating and delegitimising the legal rights conferred on the Jewish people by the League of Nations in 1922 and the United Nations in 1945. The idea that there are two narratives on the Arab-Jewish conflict is rubbish. There is only one – the factual truth that details the return of the Jewish people to reconstitute the Jewish National Home in its ancient biblical, ancestral and historic homeland after 3500 years of dispersion with the unanimous endorsement of the nation states then comprising the League of Nations.... Generals can’t fight a war without soldiers. Jews around the world need to join the fight or vacate the internet to the Jew-haters and their lies that repeated often enough eventually become accepted as truth.David Singer (2016)

Exposing Lies

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The "Apartheid" Slur

The division of Judea and Samaria (West Bank) into three separate areas “A”, “B” and “C” was agreed on by Israel and the PLO pursuant to the Oslo Accords.95% of the West Bank Arabs live in Areas A and B and their daily lives are under the total administration and control of the PLO since the Palestinian Authority was disbanded by Abbas in January 2013. The PLO has total security control in A and shares security control in B with Israel. Israel has total administrative and security control in C.Israel is entitled to and will continue to take responsibility for the security of Jews living in the West Bank.Jews were given the legal right to settle in the West Bank under article 6 of the Mandate for Palestine and article 80 of the UN Charter. They did so for decades until they were driven out in 1947 and not able to return there until 1967.There are Arab roads only in the West Bank that Jews are not allowed to use. Jews are also forbidden from entering Area “A”. Selling land to Jews is forbidden by the PLO under pain of death. The PLO runs the daily lives of 95% of the West Bank Arabs and Hamas runs the daily lives of 100% of the Gazan Arabs. They have been under occupation – and subjugation – by these two evil groups for the last ten years and given no say in their future or any opportunity to elect others to lead them following the disastrous political decisions of their leaders over the past ten years. Hamas and the PLO do not accept the continued existence of a Jewish State and call for its disappearance. The narratives did not begin in 1948 – they began in about 1917. How do you make peace with an enemy that has been obsessed with not recognising any Jewish national rights in former Palestine for the last 100 years?David Singer (2016)

Telling the Truth

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The Jews of the Holy Land ... are surrounded by hostile states 650 times their territory and sixty times their population. Yet their last, best hope of ending two millennia of international persecution - the State of Israel - has somehow survived. When, during the Second World War, the island of Malta came through three terrible years of bombardment and destruction, it was rightly awarded the George Cross for bravery. Today, Israel should be awarded a similar decoration for defending democracy, tolerance and Western values against a murderous onslaught that has lasted twenty times as long.Andrew Roberts (historian)

A voice of courage & reason

He knows, y'know

An Aussie demo against BDS

On the left, black people are usually allowed to define what’s racism; women can define sexism; Muslims are trusted to define Islamophobia. But when Jews call out something as antisemitic, leftist non-Jews feel curiously entitled to tell Jews they’re wrong, that they are exaggerating or lying or using it as a decoy tactic – and to then treat them to a long lecture on what anti-Jewish racism really is. Jonathan Freedland (The Guardian, 29 April 2016)

An awkward fact for some!

Socialist thought was tainted from its very origins with the heavy baggage of anti-Jewish stereotypes. Robert Wistrich, From Ambivalence to Betrayal:The Left, the Jews, and Israel (2012)

BDS hypocrisy!

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Israel is understandably obsessed with security, but its greatest security lies ultimately not in the Israeli Defence Forces, but in political warfare.... Most of the world is not deeply interested in what happens in Israel, and probably does not want to be deluged with legalistic defences of particular actions. What it wants is a clear, calm, repeated case. It is a case – aimed more at public opinion than at foreign ministries – about freedom, democracy, a Western way of life and the need for the whole of the free world to fight terrorism. Sometimes you hear Israelis say: “It doesn’t matter what we say. The whole world is against us.” You can see why they say it, for they are indeed unfairly treated. But when they say it, they are uttering a self-fulfilling prophecy. If they won’t say what needs saying, no one else will say it for them. Charles Moore (2010)

Once again the armies of the Arab nations are coordinating their military efforts to destroy Israel - whatever they say about wishing merely to regain the lost territories.... [I]f the present Arab offensive had been launched at the pre-1967 frontiers, then the Israelis would indeed have been fighting to avoid annihilation. It seems now that the Israelis were right to maintain the ceasefire lines gained in 1967, and that to do so is the only guarantee of their continued safety.Alan Sillitoe (The Times, 11 October 1973)

A nuclear Iran threatens our existence

Iran and ISIS are competing for the crown of militant Islam... In this deadly game of thrones, there’s no place for America or for Israel, no place for Christians, Jews or Muslims who don’t share the Islamist medieval creed, no rights for women, no freedom for anyone... [T]he greatest danger facing our world is the marriage of militant Islam with nuclear weapons. To defeat ISIS and let Iran get nuclear weapons would be to win the battle, but lose the war. We can’t let that happen...[T]he days when the Jewish people remained passive in the face of genocidal enemies, those days are over. We are no longer scattered among the nations, powerless to defend ourselves. We restored our sovereignty in our ancient home. And the soldiers who defend our home have boundless courage. For the first time in 100 generations, we, the Jewish people, can defend ourselves....Even if Israel has to stand alone, Israel will stand. But ... I know that America stands with Israel... You stand with Israel, because you know that the story of Israel is not only the story of the Jewish people but of the human spirit that refuses again and again to succumb to history’s horrors. Bibi Netanyahu (12 Adar 5775; 3 March 2015)

The Jews are a peculiar people: things permitted to other nations are forbidden to the Jews. Other nations drive out thousands, even millions, of people, and there is no refugee problem.... [N]o one says a word about refugees. But in the case of Israel displaced Arabs have become eternal refugees.... Other nations - when they are defeated - survive and recover, but should Israel be defeated it would be destroyed.... [A]s it goes with Israel, so it will go with all of us. Should Israel perish the holocaust will be upon us.Eric Hoffer (1968)

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אם תרצו , אין זו אגדה

Most of the present Arab countries were given their freedom after the 1914-18 War, or after the 1939-45 War.... Yet to listen to Arab spokesmen one might think that they had been cheated ... because they have not also got Israel. Israel is only .2 per cent of the land where Arab States have been established. Surely no fair-minded man can begrudge the Jews their own promised land when it is remembered that for every 2 acres that went to make up Israel, 1,000 acres became Arab.... Why is there an Arab refugee problem? The oil-rich countries have the money. There is no shortage of land, and the Israelis have the technical knowledge to show how it could be developed and made fertile. Bring those things together and the problem could be solved. 3rd Earl of Balfour (1968)

January 7, 2015 has already its place in the history of infamy, but also will be the date when the defenders of freedom and democracy will rise and pay tribute to those who died for their freedom and ours. Therefore, we must not forget on which side we are and who are our allies in the defense of the West and its values. Whether we admit it or not, the West is at war with an enemy who will not stop to destroy us...The State of Israel boasts a commandment that, in one of the darkest hours in the fight for liberty Winston Churchill taught: "Never give up". Israel has proven to be a key ally in the fight against Islamism and also an example of how a liberal democracy can resist the jihadist stake and thrive as a Western nation ... Not only France but also all the West should look to Israel to defeat Islamism...friendsofisraelinitiative.org

[I]t’s impossible to believe that an active antisemite wouldn’t – if only opportunistically – seek out somewhere to nestle in the manifold pleats of Israel-bashing, whether in generally diffuse anti-Zionism, or in more specific Boycott and Divestment Campaigns, Israeli Apartheid Weeks, End the Occupation movements and the like....[T]ell me that not a single Jew-hater finds the activity congenial, that criticising Israel can “never” be an expression of Jew-hating, not even when it takes the form of accusing Israeli soldiers of harvesting organs...Howard Jacobson (The Independent, 27 May 2013)

What has happened to the 800,000 Jews who lived for over 2000 years in the Arab lands ...? Where are they in Arab society today? You dare talk of racism when I can point with pride ... to the fact that it is as natural for an Arab to serve in public office in Israel as it is incongruous to think of a Jew serving in any public office in an Arab country, indeed being admitted to many of them. Chaim Herzog (6 Kislev 5736; 10 November 1975)

I stand with Israel, I stand with the Jews.... I defend their right to exist, to defend themselves, to not let themselves be exterminated a second time. And, disgusted by the antisemitism of many Europeans ... I am shamed by this shame that dishonours my country and Europe.Oriana Fallaci

For Western countries to side with those who question Israel's legitimacy, for them to play games in international bodies with Israel's vital security issues, for them to appease those who oppose Western values, rather than robustly to stand up in defence of those values, is not only a grave moral mistake, but a strategic error of the first magnitude. Israel is a fundamental part of the West. The West is what it is thanks to its Judeo-Christian roots. If the Jewish element of those roots is lost and Israel is lost, then we are lost too. Jose Maria Aznar

Israel is, for us, a normal and a special country. A normal country, because it is just like any other democracy. A special country, because the Jewish culture, which eventually became the Judeo-Christian culture of the dignity of man, is the conceptual foundation of liberalism and democracy. This is why attacking Israel is tantamount to attacking Europe and the West. This is also why disputing Israel's legitimacy and its right to existence means questioning democracy. And this is why we are Friends of Israel. By defending Israel, we are defending ourselves.Marcello Pera

Israel ... is beset today by a unique combination of threats. It must defend its people from attack while defending its very right to exist. No other nation in the world faces this dual challenge. To deny Israel's right to confront some of the world's most vicious terrorist groups in order to ensure the safety of its citizens is to corrode international norms from within ... The assault on Israel is one part of a more general assault on the West, on democracy, and on the moral and cultural heritage that grew from the fruitful interaction of Jerusalem, Athens, and Rome ... Should these efforts succeed, similar efforts will certainly be turned against other western democracies.George Weigel

Apart from America itself, Israel still stands as the world's brightest model of national self-liberation based on ideals of individual responsibility and human freedom. Israel's ability to withstand Arab attempts to destroy it in one of the longest and most lop-sided wars ever fought serves as an indelible testimony to the strength of democratic culture.... We know from the past that the West paid dearly for ignoring Hitler's war against the Jews. One can only hope it will not pay as dearly for having ignored or underestimated for so long the Arab war against Israel and the Jews. Ruth Wisse

The choice before us is not between victory and defeat, but between victory and annihilation. We therefore have not the slightest intention of allowing the re-creation of the conditions of vulnerability in which we found ourselves, abandoned and alone, in the summer of 1967. Diplomat Michael Comay (1970)

I am duty-bound to defend freedom, culture, peaceful coexistence, the civic education of children, and all the principles that the Tablets of the Law have rendered universal. Principles which Islamic fundamentalism systematically destroys. This means that, since I am a Gentile, a journalist and a leftist, I have a triple moral commitment to Israel. Because, if Israel were to be vanquished, modernity, culture and freedom would also be crushed. Even though the world has failed to wake up to this fact, Israel's struggle is the world's struggle. Pilar Rahola

About Me

I'm a writer/researcher, with many academic books and articles under my own name. Daphne Anson is my blogging alias. Combining the names of two ships, it's a moniker of special significance to me - I'm a naval history buff. I use an alias owing to a perceived need to keep my blogging and professional identities separate. An Aussie, I've long been interested in
politics and foreign affairs, having studied International Relations in the USA and Britain for my first degree, and I also hold a doctorate. I began blogging in response to the exponential rise in antisemitism and hostility to Israel in the wake of the Mavi Marmara affair.
Another reason I use an alias: http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com/2015/08/alias-two-ships-daphne-anson.html

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The spiritual awakening which Jews experienced almost without exception last June must not be allowed to become a sealed and finished episode.... Support must be rallied among men of goodwill and their governments if we are to reach that secure and just peace in the attainment of which Israel has never ceased to believe. President Zalman Shazar (1968)

Our judicial system is one of the best in the whole world. Our democracy is the only one in the Middle East.... Just imagine, what would have happened if the Arabs had, like us, accepted the Partition resolution? There would be a Palestinian State living side by side in peace, security, and, I can add, prosperity with the State of Israel, 62 years later. [C]ome to Israel, and realize how small Israel is and what a wonderful place it is. Diplomat Gabriella Shalev (2010)

Israel's Arab citizens are the only Arabs in the Middle East who enjoy genuine civic and religious rights. Religious freedom is protected in Israel as nowhere else, tragically, in the Middle East. And civil rights, of course, there's a supreme court judge who is an Arab, ministers including in my government who are Arabs, Druze, and members of parliament who are Arabs and so on. I would like to see more involvement of Arabs in civil life.Bibi Netanyahu on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show (5 Nov. 2017)